Rock Paper Scissors Scrap

IPhone love

2011-11-03T00:21:00.001+10:30

I went a bit crazy taking pics with the new phone. It makes me happy in my heart! We, this was a small selection LOL!

The last post

2010-12-28T20:52:00.002+10:30

This is just a quick posting to say that I'm no longer going to update this ol' blog anymore, but will continue to post all my scrapbooking and crafting pics with my regular photo-a-day posts over at Scrap Happy Valley. Please update your link if you have it saved somewhere, I'd love to see you over there! Happy scrapping :-)

more on the pregnancy theme

2010-12-16T14:20:00.004+10:30

I realised that I'd kept the pregnancy test from when my pregnancy with Angus was confirmed. Weird, I know, but I'm definitely not the only scrapper who's done this. What's not to keep? So, since I had some of those pregnancy-question-journalling strips left, I flipped them over to the blank side and wrote the story of discovering the pregnancy on my birthday. This is back in 2008 but luckily I'd written this story down in the journal otherwise I definitely would have forgotten.

P.S. I've worked out my "Word" for next year, which has partly to do with telling stories when they happen, not two years later! coming soon...

Project 365

2010-12-11T14:59:00.003+10:30

The now-enormous album that holds my Project 365 photos (a-photo-a-day-for-a-year) is looking amazing. It's almost finished! I can hardly believe it's been almost a year since I started. Here are some of the photos I've been playing with since the 1st December:

I'm adding a number to each photo that represents another day in December:

Digital scrapbook template (Katie Pertiet) cropped to fit a 6x4 photo:

breakfast party

2010-12-10T10:31:00.002+10:30

We had our little work Christmas party at the Hilton Hotel - a breakfast! Such a novel idea. I found an image on the internet since I didn't have my camera with me.

This is Art

2010-12-03T12:38:00.004+10:30

Adding a bit of digital colour before printing for Project365 album.

mini book peek

2010-12-02T15:32:00.009+10:30

Here is the mini book I've been working on since Sunday. I'm going to finish the insides with some coloured stitching, especially on the edges of the punched holes to avoid the paper ripping. It's an altered student exercise book so the pages are very thin, and I've stuck two pages together to make it stronger. I made it a year ago as a notebook/journal but as it was still sitting on my shelf, unused, I decided to use it for this mini book about our trip to Melbourne exactly a year ago to farewell Dad. The papers, word and letter stickers are from K&C Company, and my new dymo labeller has been used on the front cover. The only other embellishments used are paper doilies and lots of ribbon. Overall I'm very pleased with it. The trim on the front is Webster's bloomer trim - so lovely! I think I will have to get more. I LOVE it.

I journalled with my sister's old fountain pen - I finally tracked down some ink refill at Office Works. Each day is marked with a cut-down page about 5cm wide. All the pages are binded with my bind-it-all. At 36 pages it is so thick I had to use rings to hold it together.

Everything has gone into the book - travel brochures, food shopping receipts, journalling from notes I kept at the time, even a copy of my eulogy.

mini book

2010-11-30T08:05:00.002+10:30

Coming soon... pics of the massive mini-book I've been working on since Sunday. It's got everything, including of course, journalling from the new Dymo labeller. Woo hoo!

Second pregnancy layout

2010-11-30T07:57:00.005+10:30

I decided to use up the rest of the pregnancy journalling strips and make a second double-page-layout this time about my pregnancy with Angie. So it looks very similar, but they're all different questions, so it will be interesting for him to read when he's older.

Hybrid scrapbook layout

2010-11-24T06:46:00.002+10:30

I really love this page. I think it sums up my favourite scrapbooking techniques at the moment. I loved playing with the photo of Angus and making a mini digital scrapbook layout of him, with the original photo alongside it, on lightly patterned paper, with misting, paint splatters, ribbon, stitching, masking and little flying butterflies. The main thing here is the COLOUR. For me, colour is the most important part of the page. Even if it's all black and white, or a single colour.

Scrapbooking double layout of my first pregnancy

2010-11-24T06:39:00.005+10:30

A friend gave me these little pregnancy journalling strips three years ago when I was about to give birth to Tasmin but at that stage while I loved the concept of scrapbooking, I was too terrified to commit anything to paper. These strips have been moved from box to box, shelf to shelf, taking up a bit of space. I realised recently that it's no good stashing potential layouts for a "rainy day" - it'll never come. Carpe diem! So I made this layout about being pregnant with Tas, which I never could have done without the prompts. And it's one of the most enjoyable layouts I've ever made. So, so fun.

two little kids early on Sunday morning

2010-11-24T06:34:00.002+10:30

I love this photos of the kids, at 6.30am Sunday, watching some cartoons and drinking their milk. So cute. But I had actually considered deleting it because it's totally blurry. I think it's best NEVER to delete a photo on the basis that it's below average quality. This was a really happy day, where I managed to get some paper scrapbooking done even though DH was away until 4pm when we collected him from the airport. Would love more peaceful days like this.

Digital scrapbooking layouts

2010-11-19T13:36:00.010+10:30

I was sitting here thinking about all the scapbook pages I haven't been doing. Would like to do and wish I could do (insert excuses here). But what I'm doing everyday, I suddenly realised, is a type of digital scrapbooking. I am digi scrapping some photos onto layouts that will fit onto a 6"x4" photo as that's the size I get developed every week for the Project 365 album. And oila! Here's a selection from the last month (elements from Katie Pertiet):

Breaking through scrappers block

2010-11-15T12:31:00.002+10:30

This is another one of those layouts I started a while ago and couldn't get it to work. The solution is always to go back to my inspirational sources - my favourite scrappers and their gorgeous layouts and that's how I always find an answer. So at last, another page finished.

I am suffering from scrappers block at the moment - I feel so overwhelmed with the number of projects on my list that weren't finished - or started in some cases - this year that I don't know how to go forward. So I think I'm going to do the massive cleanup of my desk that is required and go from there. Usually works for me!

new baby scrap layout - Color Room inspired

2010-11-05T12:30:00.005+10:30

Have you been over to see the Color Room? I always admire Kathie Link's layouts and this week the colour scheme perfectly fit the teale colour I planned to use for this layout. I have added other colours in the end, which I thought was necessary, so it doesn't really qualify! Luckily I only scrap for myself so it doesn't matter :-)

I love using scraps on my layouts wherever poosible. The green grass is cut from Tassie's daycare newsletter.

I used my punch with orange tissue paper for the big flower, and finally got to use my little yo yo flowers made ages ago. I wonder if I can still remember how to make them? Note to self, do this in front of tellie watching Spooks tonight!

Materials: Bazzill cardstock, index cards, ribbon, fabric, tissue paper, Sharpie pen, Fiskars scallop punch, date stamp, Staz On ink, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Fiskars border punch, scraps.

The month of October

2010-11-02T14:40:00.003+10:30

So this is the month that was. I didn't get many scrap layouts done, but I have kept up to date with Project 365, my photo-a-day album, and am slowly progressing my way through the photos for 2009's album. I'm really getting into digi scrapping too, but only where it will be published on the blog or printed on to a 6x4 (normal sized) photo. it wil never replace paper albums for me of course. Each month is represented in a double-page layout. I can't to upload some images once the album is done by the end of this month. There were many more images I could have shown here, so hard to choose! I'll do a collage for Scrap Happy Valley for October too, I think. Click here for each day's uploads of photos.

New scrapbook layouts - baby Tasmin

2010-11-01T15:40:00.004+10:30

I started this layout about six weeks ago. I think it can be difficult to scrap photos when there's a strong emotional attachment. I can't believe it's three years ago she was so tiny.

I used crackle medium on the title. So fun!

Materials - Bazzill cardstock, Grace Taylor papers, manila folder tag, Kaisercraft paint, ribbon, paper doily, Jo Sonya's crackle medium, Versacolor ink, Fiskars punch, Presstik sticker, Five Kids and a Dog chipboard title.

Cafe lunch - New scrap layout of baby

2010-10-30T07:13:00.008+10:30

For my baby niece Delilah's album, I wanted to show our tradition of going to a local church cafe for lunch. It's interesting when I see my other photos of that day, which feature my son Angus. I'll scrap his photos of the day to show a different perspective, of course.

This is one of those layouts when my first attempt of the LO just wasn't working. The main photo mat was white, which looked awful. So I ended up inking it a bit and adding some embellishments, which isn't my usual style - I like to keep things simple - but I had fun on this one.

At last - photos of Delilah and I - scrapped!

2010-10-25T20:44:00.009+10:30

This little niece of mine was almost three months old before I had my photo taken with her. The problem is that I'm always behind the camera, of course. I am so delighted with the photos my sister took, and made this layout on Sunday.

materials: Bazzill cardstock, Grace Taylor and Graphic 45 paper, Fancy Pants Designs stamp, Kaisercraft acrylic paint, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Sharpie pen, date stamp, StazOn ink.

I loved it so much, that I decided to duplicate it and make another for myself, since the first leaves our house and goes into Delilah's scrap album that I am gradually building. Mine has more photos and journalling, but they are virtually identical. Nothing wrong with that! This is a very simple layout and you can tell I made it... that's what I like about it.

Scrapbook layout using mobile phone photos

2010-10-21T18:29:00.006+10:30

This is a layout I started on my solo retreat but I wasn't happy with it. My rule was to use only white cardstock and I've realised that white may not work with some photos. These are mobile phone photos so the quality isn't great and they really need brighter bolder colours to work. I still believe you can make ANY photo look great in a scrap layout. It's a bit like love: everyone has the right partner out there somewhere, you just have to find them!

finally - scrappin again! - new layout

2010-10-19T08:57:00.005+10:30

Sometimes I talk myself out of scrapbooking because when the evening free time comes around, I feel tired. What I have discovered, is that by going into the study and sitting at my desk, and looking at a photo, I suddenly get re-energised. Then next thing I know it's becoming a late night! But this is how I finished a layout I'd started a couple of weeks ago. And I love it. Glimmer Mist, Sassafrass paper, Collections chipboard, felt, leftover ribbon, hand-drawn rainbox. Handwritten journalling.

New layouts and a digi scrapping project

2010-10-16T12:07:00.009+10:30

I realised this week that I would have more success capturing my layouts by photographing them, using the camera's manual settings, instead of relying on automatic which I was doing all the time. The pages weren't in focus and the light was always terrible. It pays to learn about the camera because now I know the depth of field was too shallow and the page simply needed to be bluetacked to a wall - outside! So i won't waste any more time with scanning.

This was one of the layouts I completed on my solo retreat, but I wasn't happy with it so I spent some more time on it at home. Which is silly, when you consider these are only mobile phone prints I couldn't bring myself to throw away. Yet I love it.

...and this another one that was sort of fixed. I added the patterned paper in afterwards which made everything the right colour balance, somehow. It's all about the colour, I've decided. Layout design is important but not everything.

I have to admit I haven't scrapbooked for about a week and a half. I've been catching up on my reading (The Happiness Project) which I will write about when I've finished. Really enjoying it too. What I have been doing is thinking about and catching up on my priorities since the end of the year is looming. This week I've been getting up at 5am - which I totally recommend, but get to bed by 10pm - and making double page layouts of each month of 2009. It's really a digi scrapping project, because I'm playing with some cool masks I bought over at Two Little Pixels. I'm using 6x4" sized canvases so it can all be laid down on plain white 12" paper. Each 6x4 will look different - some will be a single image, others will contain several, and some will have journalling. Here are some examples:

I'll post more about this when I've finished a whole page by the end of October. There will be handwritten journalling a title block - the double layouts will all follow a formula.

Ten new scrap layouts from Solo Retreat

2010-10-04T19:19:00.011+10:30

Here are some of the layouts I managed to complete on my solo retreat last weekend.I haven't done a scrap of scrappin since then... eight days later. Life's been hectic with Little Miss 3 - I went to the bookshop on Friday and bought Supernanny's book in the hope of some insight. Still looking for a solution. At least I am proud to say I read a whole book this long weekend! There were lots of pictures... Ever hopeful of more inspiration, I've ordered the DVD from the library.

But I digress. This is a great challenge for you. All you need is to scrape together a chunk of time, a stack of white-only cardstock, doesn't have to be the fancy stuff, and a big pile of photos you've been waiting to scrap for ages. You're only allowed to use paper scraps and as much inking and painting and doodling and writing as you like. Go!

2010-10-01T12:33:00.003+09:30

I haven't had a chance to upload any of my 12 layouts from the solo retreat or finish the other five because of one certain little miss. She's is thankfully at daycare today so now it's 12.30, little man has finally gone down for his sleep and I have two weeks worth of photos to upload and print for Project 365, which is my normal Friday thing. So layouts are coming soon.

Meantime, read more about my week here. Next year I'm going to combine the blogs, I've decided. Much easier! Happy Friday to you.

mini scrappin' retreat - going solo

2010-09-23T16:15:00.003+09:30

How cute is this picture! Love this little boy. Well, tomorrow is the last day of term and I am taking myself off for a mini break in the city, Friday and Saturday nights. I'm choosing the city because well, why not? It's not too expensive and it's time to have a break. Hubby is feeling confident he can manage for a couple of days, so now's the time. Of course, I'm taking some scrapping with me, for a challenge I set myself. I can take only white cardstock, a pile of photos from my drawer that have been waiting for some attention, my pile of scraps (it's almost too big now), and a few tools (ink, stamps, pens, staples and Glimmer Mist). Should be fun! I'm going to create a "master board" with the leftover scraps - glue them to white paper and cut out embellisments like birds and trees. Promise to post new LO's when I return.

new baby scrapbook layouts - fantastic!

2010-09-20T16:27:00.012+09:30

It's so weird to be scrapping these pages of Tasmin, three years after her birth. Yet it makes sense to me. It's taken a bit of courage to go back to that time, which was a difficult and slow recovery after the birth. But a big advantage of doing it now is Tasmin knows when there's a new layout - she rushes over to the mantlepiece and asks to see it. And even though I think it's really important to record memories, it's only now that i really feel I've found my style. I'm so enjoying doing these layouts. I'm enjoying the process. Journalling will come later.

And another one of baby Delilah. Father's Day andn visists with cousin Leon coming up soon.

Back to Tas and Angus

2010-09-13T12:18:00.006+09:30

This is one of the first layouts I've completed for Tassie's baby album. I'm actually not terribly happy with it and am almost certainly going to change it. I think I'm going to choose the little black and white photo at the bottom, have it englarged, and go from there. They can't all be masterpieces, I know, but it is a special photo and I think it deserves better.

Now this one I really love. It's baby Tassie (bottom) and baby Angus (top) when they were newborns, the photos taken roughly 15 months apart, but in the same outfit, and the same position. Lovin it!

materials: Bazzill cardstock, Sandylion paper, Fiskars punch, lace, Autumn Leaves stamps, Tim Holtz distress ink, Zig writer, manila folder, Presstik rub-ins, old children's book page.

More baby Delilah scrap pages

2010-09-13T11:57:00.006+09:30

This first layout was really fun to make. I used lots of different papers from a 100-page pack pack (Grace Taylor) and loved cutting out and adding on layers. I distressed edges and added stitching for extra dimension. It was such a thrill that day when I had my little travel camera with me and baby Delilah decided to smile at me. She was about eight weeks old - I must add the date to it!

materials: paper all from Grace Taylor, stitching, manila folder, staples, foam dots, foam cut letters, Presstik rub-ons, brads.

This page was made with lots of photos of Gandy and Delilah. The photo at the bottom is my favourite, so it's sort of featured on the page, but sometimes it's necessary to add lots of photos in a sequence. The baby used so many different facial expressions I needed to capture them all!

materials: Bazzill cardstock, Kaisercraft paint (dusky pink), Staz on ink, date stamp, bubble wrap, Copic multiliner journalling pen, white Signo gel pen, Making Memories foam stamps.

Off the page projects

2010-09-13T11:35:00.007+09:30

T-shirt fun. A simple koala image, with a circle around it and the baby's name and imprinted on the fabric with an iron-on transfer. Easy! I even added some french knots. My sister's husband needed a gift for a new baby so I was only too happy to help out.

It's only taken me three years to figure out what to do with Tassie's birth cards. There were so many, they were all lovely and of course there was no way I was throwing them out. I did consider punching a square out of each one as I do with Christmas cards. But then the little comments would be lost. So I laid them all out on a blanket and took a photo. Then I got out my Zutter bind-it-all and made them into a book. Easy! And Tassie really likes it.

For Mum's birthday back in June I got all my favourite photos together for the first half of the year - many of which she is in too - and punched holes in them with my bind-it-all. Each month is preceded with a title so you know it's April, May etc. I covered the front and back covers with fabric and used rings to make a book (didn't have Zutter rings quite big enough for such a hefty book). I used rub-ns for the title (Treasures 2010). Mum loves the result and naturally wants another for Christmas. Another easy gift.

Keeping it simple - new scrapbook layouts

2010-09-13T11:19:00.003+09:30

This is one of my favourite layouts so far. I've always loved the look of white paint on Kraft cardstock - it's perfect for a soft look. My sister loved this layout of her baby daughter Delilah so much she's asked me to make another to frame.

materials: Bazzill cardstock, white card, muslin, fabric, button, embroidery thread, StazOn ink, date stamp, Making Memories foam stamps, white Signo gel pen, Kaisercraft white paint.

I think it's important to keep pages minimal when you really want to highlight the photo. I made this print black and white when I was unhappy with the original bland colours (which can distract from the image) and WOW! The little embellishment is cut from Grant Archival's scrapbook album packaging. I love that little emblem. The foam flowers were pinched from my daughter's craft stash.

Materials: Bazzill cardstick, Grant Archival packaging, foam flowers, StazOn ink, date stamp, stitching.

5 happy things

2010-09-09T16:49:00.002+09:30

I haven't really had a chance to get on this computer all week for various reasons but have many new layouts to upload. Also behind over at Scrap Happy Valley. Coming soon.

New baby scrapbooking layouts

2010-08-24T11:32:00.007+09:30

This has been a really simple album to make so far, except for one or two pages I spent some more time on! Mainly I'm choosing a shade of Bazzill cardstock that suits the colours in the photo, then using white Kaisercraft paint to soften the look, stamps and ink, some stitching, and lots of handwritten journalling and even titles. I only have two photos left to go, then after that it's just one page per week until she turns one. How simple is that! Next I'm concentrating on Tassie's baby pages. Why am I so nervous? I guess it's just about revisiting that difficult time. Which is exactly why I need to scrap those pages.

When Tas turned 3

2010-08-24T11:30:00.003+09:30

I'm not sure I'm all that happy with this layout but it's a simple design I wanted to try for a while. The colours are great though, and I love the journalling.

butterfly card

2010-08-23T23:01:00.002+09:30

I had a bit of fun playing with my paints and inks on Friday, as you do, and made a couple of cards I was very happy with. This one was created by going swoosh over the white card with my stenciling ink pad. Love the effect of that. I embossed the white flowers with my heat gun - yes, it's addictive I know - and wrote the message with watercolours. Fun fun.

Baby layouts

2010-08-22T12:21:00.009+09:30

It's taken me several days of trying to get a good enough photos of these two latest layouts. I think it's a bit of a hint that I need to learn more about my camera, ahem! It's so hard getting good light in our old, dark house. I love this house, but if you want light, you have to almost stick your head out the window.

Tassie came over to help me take photos.

I used a little vintage stamp here of Bo Beep that I found in an op shop when we were on holidays recently in Port Elliott.

I love the look of hand cut scallops and the pretty pink ribbon.

More ribbon, stapled on.

This is a little hidden journalling card with the story on the back, and the photos underneath.

Materials: Cardstock: Bazzill, index cards, paper: office, album packaging, manila folder, stamps: Imaginisce, date stamp, ribbon, staples, ink: Versacolor, StazOn.

Materials: Cardstock: Bazzill, K&C company, paper: Kaisercraft, scallop punch, mesh, punch: Fiskars, stamples, metallic ribbon, ric-rac, office paper scraps, computer journalling, ink: Staz On, date stamp.

When Delilah was still in the hospital, four days old, her Dad celebrated his birthday, so I had to include this in a layout for her album!

A new Angus scrapbooking layout

2010-08-22T11:51:00.005+09:30

Materials: Cardstock: Bazzill, paper: 7 Gypsises, ink: VersaMagic, StazOn, product packaging, stamps: Fancy Pants designs, date stamp, pens: Copic and Signo, paint: Kaisercolour, Journalling prompt: Ali Edwards.

Journalling reads: When I gave you your first lolly, you looked at it suspiciously; tried to chuck it; I caught it; yo put it back in your mouth; waited; then did a shuddering action with your jaw; decided you liked it and chewed! I love you today because: you come straight over to me when I enter the room; you grab the quoit rings on their base and jump like mad, making them bounce; you love being affectionate and sitting on my lap, facing me, sometimes you bend backwards, then up again, holding my hands.

I so enjoyed doing a page about Angus. The photo was taken on Tassie's birthday and it was, at the time, a rare occassion that he looked at me for the photo - a bit reluctantly as you can see! Since then I've taken quite a few more pics, and many with him even smiling, but there was something about the photo that I loved. The layout is a scraplift from an Ali Edwards page I saw (from her book: Life Artist) and wanted to try. I sandpapered the red cardstock to mess it up a bit, and added staples, hearts, the little 'a' and some paint splatters to add some texture. I love trying to keep the design simple without being boring or two dimensional.

I have two more layouts I'm waiting to upload but having a lot of trouble getting a good photo. The winter sun has appeared today, so I'll try again. I have all this afternoon in the study for creating, woo hoo! I have some more photos of my little niece Delilah waiting to be scrapped.

Happy creating!

2010-08-21T01:37:00.001+09:30

I had a good excuse to get out the heat tool and embossing powder again - to make a birthday card for my friend Kate. I've always wanted to do this as a gift, give a handmade card with earrings on the front.

new scrapbook layout - first cuddle

2010-08-20T14:07:00.005+09:30

This started out as a pink page but it just looked too much. So trimming the pink and adding it to the white is perfect. I think! This is the first time I've used Bazzill white swiss dots paper and I luurrrve it! I'll have to get more. I also spotted some Sassafrass Lass paper in my scrap shop when I was there last so I grabbed it. It's the pretty blue paper with the retro lettering on it. Cute! And this is the first layout to use my new Martha Stewart butterfly punch. More more more of that please.

Materials: Bazzill cardstock, alphabet stamps, Autumn Leaves flourish stamp, StazOn ink, Versacolor ink, Cre8tive paper, Sassafrass Lass paper, ribbon, Zig writer, ribbon.

Art journal scrapbook page

2010-08-10T16:08:00.002+09:30

This lovely page came about after a very frustrating day yesterday. I've never actually done this before - thought of a page and then just sat down and done it straight away. I was only able to do it because it was Tassie's nap time. It perfectly sums up how I was feeling, particularly with Tassie constantly testing us. She's at play school today so ahhhh.... breathe the fresh air.

New baby scrapbooking page layouts

2010-08-10T15:59:00.009+09:30

So... the first seven layouts are finished for baby Delilah's album. The first page is waiting for an ankle tag to be added, so I'll post that one later in the week. So far so good. I'm feeling very ready to start Tassie's baby album from day one after doing this - I think I'm finally settling into a simple style that I like very much. I'm soooo enjoying being creative again, but yes, that does mean having ahem, rather late nights!!

digital layout with scanned pics

2010-07-31T14:49:00.005+09:30

Today I convinced Ian to let me have some project time. As usual he had to zip off to take care of some business (his charity work commitments) but by 11am I was free and got started on some scanning. The scanning project's been on hold, mainly due to our long weekend holiday at Port Elliot and just because, well, I choose to sleep in the evenings these days!

But I digress... I took the time to name some new files from scans I've had made of our old Darwin childhood slides. Of course I got a little distracted when I started looking closely at the photos (which I haven't seen for 20+ Years). Then I went looking for other photos...

and I decided to try a digital scrapbook page To Save Time. It didn't but I'm so excited about the result!

Digital scrapbooking elements: Katie Pertiet, Fonts: 321 Impact, Clementine Sketch, Kamera Dings, Cardstock: Bazzill

I then printed the layout on to some kraft cardstock I have and voila...

Can't wait to try this again :-)

new scrapbook layouts - experimental vs. simple

2010-07-21T12:15:00.008+09:30

This page started off as a white piece of 12"x12" paper. In future I think I'm going to use good Bazzill cardstock - paper gets so warped when you spray paint it! I experimented with masking (see the 'A') but I'm not so happy with that. Will try masking with swirls next.

Materials: Cardstock: Grant Archival , Bazzill; paper: Kaisercraft, K&C company; ribbon; stitching; Francheville brad; paint: Kaisercraft; stamp: Stampit; ink: Versacolor; journalling pens: Zig Writer; journalling: computer

Here are some details:

And this layout was inspired by many of the simple style I love so much that I see at Write Click Scrapbook:

Materials: American Crafts ribbon, acrylic packaging, black and white paper, stamples, title printed from computer.

I love using up the acrylic from packaging to make ghost shapes then stapling:

A good design and the colour combination goes a long way.

These two layouts are quite a contrast aren't they?

new scrapbook layouts - old and new

2010-07-15T13:00:00.009+09:30

Materials: cardstock: Fancy Pants Designs, date stamp, Staz On ink, computer printed title and jouranlling.

About a Girl:
This is one of my current favourites. I nearly always say that when I complete a new layout! I took this picture of Tas and I in December and it so perfectly explains her.

The journalling reads:
When you wake up in the morning (early, before 7am) you call out "Daddya" to pick you up. You ask us for "some-a-ya-break-far-st". You ask "I come too your door" when we want to get dressed. In the afternoon for naptime you ask "Where's my guys?" (moo-cow, Mousie, Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy and Lekka). You command "Stop Talking/sionging" when you want our attention.... followed by "Welcome my show" with a wide grin and flourish.

We have been keeping a journal since she was born. Whenever she says or does something interesting, it gets recorded. So it's all there for later when I'm ready to scrap the pages. Really takes the stress out of trying to remember.

I cut around the flowers to make them pop up.

And I love trying new computer fonts for titles - this one's a freebie called Taco Salad. The journalling is a free handwriting font called Pea Stacy which you can get from here.

Materials: cardstock: Fiskars, stamps: Sandylion, Fancy Pants Designs, ink: Splendor, Versacolor, paper: Graphic 45, flower embellishment: from acrylic stamp packaging, computer printed journalling.

Even Mummies Were Little Once:

This is a wonderful photo of myself (middle) with my sister (second from left), and cousins Kerry, Wendy and Karissa. It's very damaged as you can see but I've started to restore it on the computer. The tricky bit is fixing one of the faces where the damaged print on the paper has slashed it in half. I'll post it at a later date when I get it finished.

I added a little vintage child embellishment which is so perfect i think. Exactly my favourite kind of layout too!

The little flower embelly was cut out from on of my acrylic stamp collections - it wasn't really needed anymore since the stamps have all been properly stored in CD cases now. Love to recycle.

Scanning project update

2010-07-06T13:15:00.002+09:30

So I finished scanning in another album yesterday. Woo hoo! This is an usual one I put together for my Dad eight years ago, using the fabric from our old cane lounges in Darwin. Very very retro. The photos inside it are pretty random and not even in order. It seemed a bit arty at the time I guess. Here is one of my favourites: an old school photo of my sister and I. It's so daggy it's sweet.

And I should be doing more scanning but I really want to finish the first few layouts for Delilah's baby album!

Scrapbook layout plus fabric scrapbook album cover

2010-07-06T13:01:00.007+09:30

I stayed up til 2am working on this layout about Angie and his dinosaur toys. It was a fun one to do, without agonising about layout or papers like I usually do.

I tried pink stitching with red gingham which I'm very happy with. And Sassafras Lass paper.

And the little details I keep coming back to: journalling strips on vintage notepaper and the date stamp. I also used my new oil pastel crayons to colour the edges. Perfect on a child's layout.

The title I printed using Word on the computer and doddling on the edges. Too easy!

And this is the calico cover I machine stitched for my new baby niece's album, with handstitching detail. I'm pretty happy with the result. Find the tutorial here. The only thing I would add is to leave a small allowance at the top and bottom edges so you can get the album cover into the pocket!

and here is a layout I completed a week or so ago. I experimented with my new water pen using watercolours for this. Great fun. I bought this paper (Making Memories) to match my sister's dress. The edges is coloured with oil pastel crayon.

birthday card

2010-07-05T15:16:00.000+09:30

Card for Mike's birthday.

Welcome to a new project month JULY

2010-07-01T18:28:00.002+09:30

New mixed-media art scrapbook page and plans for July

2010-06-29T12:35:00.004+09:30

I apologise fior the poor quality photo but even on such a poorly lit rainy day, I had to show this layout. I've been really enjoying Donna Downey's Inspiration Wednesdays and decided to make own page using paints and inks. It was such fun. I painted the background with watercolour, which is why the corners are curled, and stamped over the top. It was a great way to use two rather ordinary little photos that had been in a fridge magnet frame and turn it into a story. I added some handmade paper for the mat, journalling strips made on the computer and printed out, my new watercolour pen to paint in the brown butterflies and a lunchbox lid to make tiny circle patterns. And i've been using acrylic stamps again, since the great recent re-organisation!

Materials: plain white cardstock, Faber-Castell watecolour pencils, Mont Marte watercolour paint, Tim Holtz and Versacolor distress ink, Fancy Pants Desgins, Inkadinkado and Stamp-it stamps, handmade paper from local craft market

Ah yes and plans for July. It's been driving me crazy for years that my sister and I have these fabulous collections of photos from our childhood and they are in boxes, and various albums, some with her, some with me, and none of it in any sort of order. And they're starting to fade. Some have already been damaged from years in a humid climate (Darwin) and non acid-free photo albums.So....I am going to scan them all in, put them in order, then house them in albums. My sister will keep the originals and I'll keep the copies. And a whole month should be plenty of time, right? Stay tuned.

Grandma's legacy

2010-06-29T12:30:00.002+09:30

I realised the other day that I still have these yellow handled scissors. My dear Grandma, God bless her, sent me these as a present when I was about 10. It's remarkable that I still have them, seeing as I've moved about 15 times since then, don't you think? It's also remarkable, because I also recognise that she, too, was a scrapbooker, and now I am too. She didn't have any fancy papers or embellishments, but would make holiday books for my sister and I, with authentic bits and pieces like tickets and drawings and maps, and of course lots of photos, journalling and even her own diagrams. She did this in the 70's and 80's and I guess stopped after that as we were too old. Thanks so much Grandma for showing me the way. And if you could see my work, I'm sure you'd be proud xxx

digital scrapbooking

2010-06-24T23:11:00.002+09:30

I'm experimenting with digital scrapbooking. This is an Ali Edwards designed page which really tickles my fancy. Cute huh?

I went and bought some more scrapbook albums today. I am planning to create some 12x12 inch scrapbook pages all digitally for the 2007/2008/2009 albums. I want to do a monthly page for each month of these years and thinking about how I might do it. The rest of the albums will be filled with scrapbook pages - the lumpy and bumpy kind. I may end up getting them printed locally, otherwise Shutterfly will cost me about $6 per page. I'm shopping around for digital templates at the moment. Or should I just create my own template? I want to be able to drop a photo into a pre-set frame without cropping or trimming.

New look for Rock Paper Scissors

2010-06-22T12:01:00.003+09:30

It's been time for a new look for poor old rock paper scissors scrap. I've been having a bit of fun mucking around with some digital scrapbooking. It's actually more fun than I thought.

...bye bye to the old header. .. I decided to keep the fonts (1942 report, CK Ali) and typewriter image, though. It's a real typewriter which sits on my desk (it's tiny!) and works as a real pencil sharpener. The blog wouldn't look right without it.

Scrapbooking layout - baby's first Christmas

2010-06-21T13:34:00.003+09:30

I've always loved this photo taken of we three: Tassie's first Christmas. She was only about five months old. There's another version of this photo that I also love, which I plan to scrapbook for the christmas album. I like to try different techniques when I do scrapbook pages, so this time I added a book page, which I haven't done before, and a crochet doily. Love 'em.

Materials: Cardstock: Kaisercraft, Paper: Fancy Pants designs, coffee filter, chipboard: Five Kids and a Dog, feather, Scallop border punch: Fiskars, ribbon: Francheville, ink: Versacolor, StazOn, stamps: Sugar Shoppe, Inkadinkado.

Now that I'm organising my acrylic stamp collection, I'm looking foward to doing a lot more stamping. They're being organised into CD cases, which is such a clever idea. Simple. Will upload photo when finished.

finally - a scrapbook layout

2010-06-18T11:37:00.006+09:30

This is the only layout I have managed in the past few weeks. When I returned from the Melbourne trip, I sort of decided to prioritise sleep. I know! Pretty kooky. But my husband is right about how important it is. I'm feeling quite reenergised, so hope to get a few more done, starting today. Will keep you posted!

Journalling reads: You runs straight over to the play equipment and go for it. You don't want any one holding your hand and you are very decisive and confident about what you want. You love to indroduce yorself "I'm Tasmin amanda Smith".

portrait project

2010-06-07T17:08:00.004+09:30

My sister, cousin and I were lucky enough to visit the National Gallery in Victoria last Monday when we flew down for my cousin Noni's wedding. I was so enthralled to be able to see a portrait exhibition called 'Timelines' (see poster, top left corner, picture below).

By a weird coincidence (I love weird coincidences) one of the subjects in the portraits was a girl my sister went to school with in little ol' Darwin. I think her name is Anna Phillips. She's in many ads on TV. But I digress.

I was so inspired I decided to give portraits a go and started with my Mum.

While I was surprised to find she was a difficult subject to capture (she wasn't able to be expressionless for me) I was so delighted when I accidentally saw the images together in a collection, see above. My sister tells me it's the best work I've ever done.!!! Wow, that's quite a compliment.

Anyway, I scribbled some notes, since there was a gruff looking security guard woman sitting on a chair and glaring at me (I was carrying my camera around with its enormous lens sticking out)
and I was too chicken to take any pictures. The main ideas I wanted to remember are:

the effectiveness of a gnarly wooden fence for a background
doing a 'then and now' portrait years apart, in exactly the same spot (black and white, then contrasted with colour to show 'now')
scapturing the subject without smiling but looking directly at the camera
framing an interesting portrait then handwriting below the subject directly on to the mat
closeups of hands especially two pairs of hands eg. grandma and child, or hand holding an object (teapot, wedding ring)
portraits of elderly ladies really dressed up
an eye (closeup)
from the floor, capturing a Daddy holding his baby's hands as he walks (showing their legs from the knees down)
before and after (pregnant woman, then woman with baby)
a reclining portrait where the subject stretches from the bottom left hand corner to the top right corner
black and white photos printed on to cardstock then coloured with pencils in all the colours of the rainbow using a cross-hatch technique

What was so affirming at this exhibition, was a black and white photograph of a mother, nude, with her little four year old boy, taken by a very accomplished photographer. He was the Daddy and the note said he had been taking their photos, particularly the mother's, almost daily for 20 years.

Hello! And they say 'obsessed' like it's a bad thing???????????

the letters to Jessie project

2010-06-07T17:00:00.005+09:30

i was so fortuante to be able to borrow the letters that my grandfather, Frank Middleton Risk, sent to my Grandmother Jessie, during the second World War. The letters had been kept for years in a little photo envelope but some had started to come apart at the edges and were in need of TLC. The best thing to do, I decided, was to place individually inside page protectors in a scrapbook album - I plenty of those on hand! - and sew down the seams to keep the letter in place. If you see above, the seam leaves a little pocket on the right hand side.

Frank Middleton was my Dad's father. They look so alike. The letters in Frank's voice were surprisingly warm, loving and caring, referring to Jess as 'Sweetheart' often. I guess it was easier to be lovey dovey in a letter than face-to-face. When my own Dad wrote letters to me as a child - so glad Grandma kept them in the holiday scrapbooks she made me - he used a similar loving voice.

The letters have all been lovingly and carefully scanned so sometime in the next few months I plan to make a photo book from the scans and try and recreate a bit of the intimacy of personal letters - something I didn't quite achieve with the enormous album.

But at least they're safe now.

Simplest photo book ever

2010-06-05T17:43:00.003+09:30

I wanted to make a mini-book out of a stack of photos I had, a little more than 40 I think. I've been wanting to try this for ages. I just used my Bind-it-all to punch holes straight into the photos and used a bit of leftover cardboard as the front cover. For the cover design, I printed the first photo directly onto patterned paper in my printer and I'm so pleased with the result! I inked the edges and it was finished.

And my Auntie Shirl, who I made the book for, loved it and took it to show her friends at the bowls club. She has bought a new house and will be moving soon. These are photos of her house and garden.

You can see the layouts I made from the photos here.

Two new scrapbooking page layouts

2010-05-27T20:43:00.004+09:30

I seem to have found my mojo again today. Hooray! I did a whole new layout today, which proves that I CAN do a quick layout - it is possible! It's a little hard to see in this scan, but the Bazzill cardstock is the natural cream colour which I love. I can really imagine using this more. I had fun with some green handmade paper I had in my stash and I printed my font straight on to it on the printer then cut it out. It's a pretty shiny paper which you can't quite see in the scan. I used a little scallop circle at the top to highlight the colour.

Since printing these photos I've also learnt to increase the dpi when photoshopping the photos to a smaller size to keep the resolution quality. It had been set quite low to 72 so I've increased it to 400. May replace these photos with new prints. The little tissue paper flower was a leftover from the 'Edible Blooms' I made Mum. The hearts were made by drawing on white cardstock with white crayon as a resist then covering over with paint. Easy!

I had a bit of fun trying this text flower, tutorial here. Obviously I need a bit more practise, LOL! I painted a little die cut frame I had with orange paint, then went over it with Crackle Medium. I used a little ink to highlight the crackle. I need a lot more practise to work out how to make big giant cracks, which I prefer. I might post some close up pics tomorrow if I remember.

I'm off to Melbourne on Saturday so one thing I need to do tomorrow to get ready is put the letters from my grandfather, Frank Middleton Risk, (to my grandmother Jessie, during World War II) into an album, so they can be returned to my auntie. Ian scanned them all in for me this week, what a legend! Luckily he did it before the bug got him (he's really under the weather today).

Cool discovery - freebie - Kamera dings

2010-05-19T23:05:00.003+09:30

These are so cute... I discovered them over at Write Click Scrapbook and you can find them here. They're perfect for a layout I have in mind about a certain someone who takes a lot of photos.......

Day 18 - Billie

2010-05-18T23:55:00.004+09:30

I was glad to finish this layout tonight about my cat, Billie. It's been a very challenging month, being the third week of caring for my babies, who are fighting infections. I've been sleeping every chance I get as Ian and I are up every night with Angus. Looking forward to getting back to normal again.

Materials: Cardstock - Creative Memories, paper - Kaisercraft, paint - Kaisercraft, rubber stamps - Heidi Swapp, Imaginisce, distresser, ink - StazOn, Splendor, journalling pen - Copic multiliner, ribbon - American Crafts, date stamp.

Journalling: Sweet, loyal little Billie cat. You've been with me since 1995, when you were just 6 months old. 15 years later, you're still with me. Your cutest trait is the way you trot so happily over to me for a pat when you see me outside at the clothes line!

Day 12: a layout a day in May

2010-05-12T13:34:00.003+09:30

Ahem, I know I skipped days 5 - 11 but it was a rough week so I decided to start again today. I wanted to keep this layout really simple as I loved the story told by the three pictures of Ian with Angus.

This is one of those happy serendipities where you pick up the camera not really expecting anything and end up with really great photos!

Materials: black and white cardstock, paper: My Little Shoebox, date stamp, StazOn ink, Heidi Swapp paper distresser, circle cutter: Creative Memories, rubons: Presstik alphas, Kaisercraft.

photoshop fun

2010-05-10T08:43:00.015+09:30

I took some pregnancy pics of my sister Manda yesterday and then discovered a cool new trick in Photoshop Elements. To start, here's the before:

'After' - this is a circular vignette, a simple action you can find under in 'Effects' above the layers panel in Photoshop Elements (version 7). This is possibly my favourite one. Then I decided to play around with the photo as black and white, a function you find under 'Enhance' in the menu bar. I then used the Magnetic Lasso Tool to select the subject, went to 'Select' then clicked on 'Inverse', then Ctrl+J (PC computer) to create a new layer with just the background. Cool! then I just played with different effects available in "Effects" above the layers palette.

This one's Pencil...

Patchwork... Notepaper...

Fibers...

Ocean Ripple... there are many more, but I'll choose one that focuses on the subject because I have this lovely scrapbooking paper that is the exact match to my sister's dress.

Something! Mothers Day 'edible blooms'

2010-05-10T08:25:00.005+09:30

For ages I've been wanting to make 'edible blooms' - which aren't really, as my husband (holding the bouquest for me) points out. These little flowers are just made with the Fiskars scallop circle punch,and I punched coloured tissue paper while it was folded to make several scallops at once. I then just added a brad to the centre and fluffed the paper up a bit.

You can find more about it here.

Then I stuck them on to a wooden skewer. The chocolates are spiked with the skewers and then added into the bunch. I added bits of green paper to look like leaves and it does kinda sorta look like a bunch of flowers! I always keep the wrapping from bouquets when I receive them so I had some handy to use.

Mum seemed pretty happy. All the pics from Mothers Day will be posted at Scrap Happy Valley shortly.

day five - nothing

2010-05-06T07:47:00.003+09:30

Oh dear. I'm afraid I came unstuck yesterday. It's been a long rainy week, this week, and very challenging having both babies sick, the husband away from Monday til Friday, daycare cancelled on Tuesday, shopping skipped. I've been trying my hardest to keep my head above water and to top it all off, I received some rather harsh criticism last night that's really got me questioning myself. I didn't get to sleep til after 2am then had to be up again at 6am. Tasmin's always been an early riser. So there you have it. It's back to the drawing board.

Anything to be grateful for yesterday?

Well Mum came over late morning to play with Tasmin, which gave me prep time for my teaching job. Thanks Mum. And my 7 months pregnant sister came over at 4pm to feed the babies and put them to bed while I went off to work. So yes, I'm grateful for her. And third, I'm grateful that I took the time to call the police on my way to work to report a broken down car. There was a very long line of traffic banked up behind it, and the driver's wife was holding a tiny baby as she stood on the road beside the car, halfway up a steep hill, on a blind corner with no footpath, and cars crossing the double line in order to get home. A great recipe for a head on collision. No one else had called it in. I followed my instinct and you can't ask for more than that.

day four - your first steps

2010-05-05T08:32:00.003+09:30

I was up until 12.30am finishing this one last night, but at least it wasn't 3 or 4am as I've been known to do in the past! I was listenening to an audio book at the same time, which I've never done before, but a great way to read books while scrapping. It's Never Let Me Go by Kasuo Ishuguru. I'm halfway through.

This layout is a scraplift based on this layout by Kathie Link. It's soooo fabulous. I was so happy with the way it turned out, even though Kathie's original is based on a Cropaholic kit she designed for Shop and Crop. It's definitely worth putting in the time on layouts sometimes, as I think I'll treasure this for years to come, and so will Tasmin hopefully!

Techniques learned:
I learned a lot, from having to improvise. I used a resist technique for the hot pink heart flower, by drawing on white cardstock with white crayon then dry brush painting over. When it was dry I applied Pod Podge to seal it. I made the green mat for the photo by using blue ink to stamp an image around the edges, so it looks like a patterned paper. I used orange ink to colour the hearts, then stamped in pink over the top with a flower design. Pretty effective, eh? The curled paper at the bottom is inked underneath to look like double sided paper. I used a paint brush to help roll the papers. Also, one of Kathie's techniques I love is the way she chooses coloured cardstock for the layout's border, but then a more neutral colour for the background. I never would have considered using the paper I did, normally, as it looks really plain on its own. But it works, somehow!

Materials: K&C Company green cardstock; paper: Grant Archival, Bella!, Heidi Grace Designs, Kaisercraft, Sassafras Lass Monstrosity; ink: Splendor, Versa Color; yellow foam cut for flower; brads; Kaisercraft paint; white crayon; stamps: Inkadinkado, Fancy Pants Designs; pen: Zig Writer; buttons and stitching.

Journalling: The story: 1. in the morning, you simply picked up the remote control and took your first steps, walking towards the TV! 2. That day we took Ga out for Yum Cha (early Fathers Day treat). 3. Neighbours Steve and Desiree moved in and 4. Peter's 6th birthday, where the photo was taken.

layout number 3 - fathers day 09

2010-05-04T21:33:00.003+09:30

After my Dad passed on last year, I got angry with myself thinking of all the things that I didn't do, could have done, should have done. For some reason, I didn't take any photos this particular day - which turned out to be our last Fathers Day with my Dad. But I've been learning that you don't need to be limited by photos when scrapping stories, and for this layout I used the scans of the fathers day cards.

Materials: Black paper unknown, Zig Writer, Jewellery Bitz, Versa Colour Ink, Stitching, mod podge, cardboard from old box, date stamp, Staz On ink, Signo gel pen, Bella! tag.

Journalling reads: Everyone came over to our house for lunch on Fathers Day - Manda and Mike brought Dad, and Mum came too. So grateful Dad was able to come, thought it wasn't easy for him. We all watched the 10 minute slideshow I'd made based on the album of Dad's early life story - but it included recent photos. The card I made is based on one of his favourite sayings. heart u Dad xo.

First two layouts SO FAR

2010-05-03T23:29:00.005+09:30

1. Love is.... this was kinda easy as I already had the enlarged photo stuck on a piece of 12" white cardstock but it had been sitting around a few months. I do like it and it's OK for a home print job too (but note to self, only print high resolution pics!)

2. When I have extra favourite photos that don't fit in the 365 project, I set them aside for scrapping. Sometimes I print two copies, knowing one will be scrapped. So I have a pretty good supply of photos ready. This one was just fun. I know the butterfly makes the page a bit too busy but it so suits the photo, don't you think!

There are two more layouts, one missing a tiny detail that I will upload tomorrow and one that er, I haven't done yet. I have the photo and concept ready, but can't quite decide on background paper. Here's the plan: five minutes, choose a paper from the shortlist pile, then go to bed and do it tomorrow! I didn't quite get to it tonight as I've been getting photos ready for developing tomorrow. There's always a reason!

CHALLENGE: A layout a day in May

2010-05-01T23:12:00.002+09:30

It's on! The inspiring and talented Karenika came up with this idea in her blog and I immediately knew I had to do it. I often spend too long researching the perfect layout with each photo or group of photos I want to scrap and I need to challenge myself to make some quick decisions - then STICK and GO!

I think it will be really fun to have 31 finished layouts at the end of the month.

There are some things I simply have to do this month for others - scanning precious heritage photos and letters I have on loan from relatives and starting and completing a mini heritage album for my Mum for her birthday in June. And there's the 365 Project but I have Tuesdays set aside specifically for that. So.... here we go!

And yes, I did my first layout today. And finished it. I will upload it tomorrow.

2010-04-30T13:56:00.005+09:30

It's always a challenge getting multiple photos on to one layout but I like to slice and chop to make them fit. The first one is such a great reminder of my Auntie Shirl's house and garden in Melbourne where I visited last month for my cousin's wedding. So glad I have these photos since she plans to move soon.

Materials: Bazzill cardstock (kraft), Kaisercraft paper, Versa Colour ink, American Crafts ribbon, Staz On ink, date stamp, Zig Writer

journalling: Manda and I flew into Melbourne on Virgin took a dodgy cab to Auntie Shirl's and accompanied her to an auction (house went for $500k). We were shocked to hear she and Ken may sell the house - the house she and her first husband Barry built more than 50 years ago! She has the most beautiful garden and I will miss it. It inspired me to have my own beautiful garden.

Below: I punched many photos with my 2" square punch to fit these on one layout. It's a great reminder of that night.Journalling reads: Almost all Shirl's family came that evening to see us and celebrate Phil's 50th. The boys caused a small fire playing with candles during Earth Hour and entertained each other with ghost stories. 5.30 til midnight. Auntie Shirl can sure make a feast.

Double scrapbook layout share

2010-04-30T11:20:00.003+09:30

Click on photo for a larger view.

For a pretty simple layout this one was weeks in the making. Not really, it's just that I was too chicken to get the sewing machine out and finish off with some stitching. Since I'd had to take the machine back to the repairer, I really lost my confidence. Anyway, it was all the worth the wait as the machine is working just fine. I really had fun with the stitching.

Supplies: Bazzill Cardstock (kraft), Bella paper, Versa Colour ink (sky blue), gingham material, ric rac, felt, stitching, used carpark ticket, American Crafts ribbon, date stamp, Staz On ink, foam cut title, crinkle machine, Fiskars punch, Copic black multiliner.

Journalling reads: 1. Pa cuts the cake (made by Nan) after the speeches, 2. Daddy c hats to Sid; 3. Tasmin discovers nan's clever folding mirror dressing table; 4. and has a cuddle with Nan; 5. Tas loves dressing up with Nan's beads (a tradition started by cousin Daniel); 6. Angus, Daddy, Barbara and Tasmin near Pa's birthday card collection; 7. Pa's game of Boules (circa 1950's?); played outside by children; 8. Angus was getting tired for his nap by the late afternoon; 9. time for one quick photo with Pa. It was a lovely celebration and Mummy enjoyed being the "official" photographer.

Wedding mini book

2010-04-30T09:56:00.008+09:30

Making mini albums like this is a great example of how doable it is to make something cute when there isn't much time. I used my Bind it all to make the book - that took about 20 minutes, after cutting 12" paper into 6" squares and then binding them with recycled cardboard from packaging around the house. The cover is just some patterned paper adhered on with a little ribbon and hand written title. I scanned in the card I made and stuck it on the first page. I decided to use only two or three stamps throughout the album to keep it simple, in the same colour (Tim Holtz antique linen and Staz On black). The rest is doodled with my pen.

A bit of the boarding pass...

The tag from my bolero jacket...

My sister's baby bump...

The lovely couple and my horded confetti...

The place card...

There are many more pages but you get the idea. I'll post a link to the finished album later. Just need to print a couple more photos and finish with a little more stamping. Oila!

Favourite photo of the week

2010-04-30T09:28:00.002+09:30

Favourite photo of the week

2010-04-24T09:23:00.004+09:30

The children are so mesmerised with bubbles.

With a visitor in the house this week, the whole routine went out the window and that coupled with a disappointment from someone who should know better meant I felt very unmotivated and down with a migraine by Friday. I stayed in bed til late in the morning as Ian kindly stayed home for me. What I am really grateful for is two things: my camera (Canon 500D) and my project 365. Whatever happens, no matter how little scrapping or art I manage in the week, at least I can take my photo a day and make a double page every week with the photos. It's so DOABLE. By the afternoon, when I felt more motivated, Ian tackled some filing and I played the game: shuffle-our-money-around-using-internet-banking til everything was restored to normality again. I even managed to put away the clean clothes collection that had been starting to grow and multiply.

So after swimming this morning what shall I do? I think I'll finish the projects sitting on my desk for a week: a double layout from Pa's 80th and the mini book from Melbourne which I wish I'd never started. Don't think I want to do mini books anymore. I'd rather tell my stories in layouts I think. I've decided to cheat and use only the wedding photos to make it a wedding mini book adn the other photos I'll scrap in a layout.

weekend stuff and The New Schedule

2010-04-18T21:36:00.003+09:30

Ho ho, I was allowed out all day yesterday - well from 11am til 5pm. What to do? Scrapbook shopping. I spent my birthday voucher on mainly papers and pretty ribbon, at my fave shop Seriously Scrapbooking then went to Spotlight to spend another discount voucher on a new American crafts album for the 365 project. Yes, it was necessary. The albums I have, the Grant Archival snap lock type, really only happily hold about 25 page protectors before they unsnap. So, we'll see how it goes. Not sure if I'll find the D-rings too instrusive yet. I also bought lots of little stuff including some coloured felt to decorate Angie's hat. The dark blue hat is so dull. Why do they make little boys' clothing in such dull colours?

So far I'm sticking to my new scrapping schedule. I bought a few papers for my sister's baby album. How about that - the baby isn't due til July and I am being unusually organised. I would typically wait til June then it would be a last minute panic. I'm finding the schedule is a great idea. If you allow months for a project, then it doesn't matter so much when you miss days and nights here and there. I've even completed two pages so far. Still working on a 'current' layout which I'll try and finish tomorrow.

Uploading my 365 photos then sneaking off for an earlyish night. xoxoxoxo

beautiful girl

2010-04-15T16:05:00.005+09:30

One current layout:: finished! The original looks better than the scan but you get the idea. I couldn't resist twilling some little flowers. It doesn't take long. The title is just masked under the inks and the flowers and buttons added to the swirly stamp. I'm reasonably happy with it. I think!

Photo of the week

2010-04-15T08:48:00.002+09:30

From "day 103" of my 365 project - the babies playing together with a new stockpile from the toy library.

Rain scrapbook page layout

2010-04-15T08:43:00.003+09:30

Managed another layout from the September project - i love this one about the rainy day. These pictures bring that day right back as if it was yesterday. It just proves that it doesn't matter if the photos are perfect or not, it's the story that matters. And remembering is bliss!

Yesterday while Tassie was at "Little School" I caught up on the 365 project. I still need to stick a few bits in here and there but that can wait til next week. In the evening I worked on a CURRENT LAYOUT woohoo! It took 5 minutes to choose the cardstock and stick the photos in place, and another three hours messing around with the title and embellishments, which I might add, are all in the corner of the page! The devil is in the detail.

I will post the new layout when it is finished, hopefully sometime today.

A layout from 'photo freedom my way'

2010-04-12T09:27:00.003+09:30

I'm calling this the 'Photo Freedom My Way' project. I have some photos from September all ready to scrap. Some layouts will be for the general family album 2009, the rest will go into the babies' albums.

The tricky thing with this particular layout was working with images from the mobile phone camera. I went through a phase last year of using it to take photos at unexpected times. This year I have the better sense to take the camera with me! But I am grateful to have low quality photos rather than none at all.

Photo freedom my way

2010-04-11T01:18:00.003+09:30

I was reading a bit about Julian Stacy's Photo Freedom system on Monica's blog Life Without Filters while I was web surfing rather late last night and felt inspired to have another go at last year's photos. I still feel as compelled as ever to record those stories but needed the simplest way of doing it. So I've printed thumbnail versions of all the photos month by month, then filled a calender with notes of what happened on each day (I've done three months so far). From this I plan to make a single or double layout of each month in an Ali-style grid layout. There was a happy unexpected bonus in all of this. I could see clearly the one or two layouts I was inspired to make for the babies' albums for the month I've started with (September). Ha! There is method in the madness.

I'm currently enjoying the simple layout styles over at Write Click Scrapbook. Telling and recording stories is so important for me. I like the idea of having separate albums: an arty one for me, a scrapbook layout album for the babies, and a straight photo/story 12" album for the everyday stuff. (Thank you 365 project for telling my stories every day. so quick. so easy!) There are loads of other projects which I'm deliberately not mentioning so my head doesn't spin right off.

Tomorrow Mum is coming over and she is going to select some of her favourite childhood photos (I've scanned them all in) which I'll use as the basis of a small heritage 6"x6" mini album for her birthday. No pressure...June!

2010-04-08T23:16:00.003+09:30

So grateful that Tas loves painting, drawing, scribbling and sticking. Just like her scrapbooking mother. She spent happy hours today doing all of the above.

I took it easy again today, still struggling with a cough and cold, but did manage to update the 365 project, albeit without the journalling. I've relegated that project to Wednesdays (Tuesdays after next week) when Tas is at "Play School". I plan to upload pictures of the pages next week when the next batch is finished. Sounds like a production line!

more art pages

2010-04-06T15:58:00.003+09:30

Art journal

2010-04-06T12:01:00.010+09:30

It was a short solo break over Easter (less than 48 hours) but in just one day - starting at 9am and finishing up at around 2am the next morning - I managed 13 page layouts which I was all pretty happy with. Here are most of them, the others I need to add some words to. What a learning experience!

Weekend update

2010-04-02T22:23:00.003+10:30

I returned from the Melbourne wedding trip on Tuesday but have had a yucky old cold this week. So I've been sleeping every spare moment I get. Happy to report that I did get the first few pages started on the mini book album from the trip - shouldn't take too long to finish another time. Tomorrow I'm off for my 48 hour parent retreat - solo - as is our little tradition. I'll take the babies to have lunch with Daddy tomorrow then we'll swap.

So here's the plan: I'm going to take lots of paints, inks, white 12" paper, stencils, and others bits n pieces to encourage me to have a bit of a play in my art journal - which is delightfully blank so far. I'm also planning to do some pages for my "it's all about me" album of which there is only one sad lonely little page so far.

The other thing I'm looking forward to doing is filling up my toolbox journal with ideas from the dozens of scrap mags I've dogeared. I never did get around to finishing that from the last solo retreat in December! So looking forward to having lots to upload when I return on Monday.

Have a great Easter :-)

wedding card

2010-03-26T22:25:00.002+10:30

How's this for a bit of weekend fun - flying off to Melbourne at 0-dark-hundred hour in the morning (read: early!) for a WEDDING. Where's the downside? Where there's always one, and in this case I can't take my beloved as he has to stay home and mind the ankle-biters. However I've decided to be a bit adventurous (read: crazy!) and take a mini book with me to journal in and leave spaces for photos while I'm gone. My sister, who is accompanying me, is apparently taking student assessments and uni assignments with her so there may be time. We get back Tuesday. Oh how I'm going to miss my little family.

Another scrap page about Tasmin - and it's CURRENT!

2010-03-25T08:38:00.006+10:30

You may remember I've been procrastinating for quite some time about doing scrapbooking layouts for Tasmin's and Angus's baby albums. I fell into that trap of thinking the pages would have to be perfect works of art, so of course I never felt ready to start! But it occurred to me the best thing was to start somewhere - anywhere - with current photos. And as it turns out, it's really more fun when you approach a page playfully and just go with your instincts, committing to your first impulse. So I completed a WHOLE page last night, after I got back from my job. Not bad, eh?

Materials: Cardstock: American Crafts, girl paper: Kaisercraft, smiley paper unknown source, date stamp, Bic CD labelling pen.

Journalling: Oh Tasmin - you say such funny things, you have an incredible memory, you are a fast learner and so full of joy! You are also quite the little tinker, like your Daddy :-) And you do have your moments. But always you say "I love you Mummy, I love you Daddy" and "Angus, I love him a lot." And you always have a kiss for us before bed - for Angus too! xxxxxxxx

At last a scrapbook page completed for Angus's baby album

2010-03-24T08:48:00.002+10:30

Materials: Cardstock: creative memories
Paper: Grant Archival
Pen: Signo gel pen
Punch: Fiskars scallop border
Title: handcut from foam
Date stamp, hand drawn swirl from stencil

Journalling: today you: 1. drank half a bottle of water and liked it; 2. sipped banana milkshake from a straw, like Tasmin; 3. sat STILL through a whole story this afternoon, then toddled off to the table, reached up high for a second book, and brought it over for me to read! 4. stood up on the bathroom bench for Daddy to dry you after your bath, 5. Tussled on a pillow with your sister on the floor, giggling.

Summer '09 scrapbook layout

2010-03-13T23:28:00.005+10:30

I had such fun doing this summer layout. Lately I've been printing the photos I know I want to scrap, placing them where I want on the page and then coming back to it a few days later to create the page.

Cardstock: Bazzil

Paper: Graphic 45 Playtimes Past Collection, Kaisercraft

Embellishments: handmade from paper scraps, ScrapFX Flutterby

Title: hand cut from foam

Ink: VersaMagic cloud white, Staz On black, Splendor, Signo gel pen

Punch: Fiskars 2" seal of approval

Adhesive: Bella double-sided tape

Date stamp

It's so fun playing with colours. My latest purchase is the Fiskars punch which I'd had my eye on for a while. I bought it on a whim on Friday, being right near Spotlight, then got home and stressed when I realised it was slighter different to the Marvy scallop circle punch I see on many layouts. So I did a bit of Googling and was amazed to discover all its applications. So I went ahead and ripped open the packet and used two scallop circles on this layout: one for the sun, and the other I cut into three. Purely by accident, the middle strip looks just like a file tab. Ohh, I love serendipity. But that's one of the best parts about scrapbooking isn't it? Love this craft.

Journalling:

These are the sights of sumer at our place: Angus enjoying his swing - 1st birthday present from Manda, Mike and Ga - and Daddy giving Angus his bedtime bottle.

Yellow paper

2010-03-12T15:35:00.000+10:30

It's so inviting!

Scrapbook layouts with yellow paper

2010-03-11T09:47:00.006+10:30

We're leaving the summer months - reluctantly - and approaching autumn. What better way to embrace a change of season than with colour?

Cardstock: Bazzill Kraft
Embellishment: Chinese New Year (source unknown)
Pens: Marvy Uchida

Stamps: making Memories

Stencil: Kaisercraft

Ink: Splendor

Christmas tag: Karenika

How fun is this - yellow paper! It was actually a free digital paper from Kevin and Amanda which I simply printed and have this week used on everything. Crazy! I have even made a little pile of all the yellow papers I have, which turns out to be quite a bit. It injects so much warmth and excitement and happiness into pages I think, and two layouts above are so basic and simple. What I want to do is start being a bit more creative with making my own paper with paints and inks, which you could EASILY do to recreate this paper. I am inspired by this layout made by Ali Edwards:

Ali Edwards' "Celebrating Mom with a layout"

What's your absolute must-have colour at the moment?

Scrapbooking layouts

2010-03-09T16:16:00.010+10:30

Here it is... the first page for Tasmin's baby album! I spent ages trying to figure it out but of course the finished product is very simple. I loved using a Heidi Grace rub-on for the title, as I don't use those very often, and some pretty ribbons from my Mum's old craft stash. I included the ankle tag from the hospital...

And more finished pages from the long weekend...The 365-project album

A card collage... I wanted to keep the cards people had sent after Dad's passing last year, and I love using the EK Success 2" square punch for this to create a little grid - another Ali Edwards idea!

Christmas 2009:: photos collaged on 12" by 12" cardstock. I will scrapbook a 12" page for the Christmas album - soon I hope! This will include the Christmas letter we send each year.

Five pages to share soon

2010-03-08T19:38:00.001+10:30

Well yesterday I had the chance to do some scrapbooking. Hooray for that! Five pages in all, three finished. Pictures soon. And hooray for long weekends!

Tassie's album begins

2010-03-05T07:31:00.002+10:30

It's great to have least started the baby album for Tasmin, who is now 32 months old! Better late than never. Yesterday was one of those days where I was busy all day with the babies and housework, but looked forward to the evening for my chance to scrapbook. Only when the time came, I was too tired, having a frozen dinner and falling asleep on the couch! Those days are the most frustrating. But I am grateful to be able to catch up on sleep though.

new years eve 09 double layout

2010-03-03T10:51:00.010+10:30

At last another double layout completed. I'm trying different styles at the moment. This is Cheryl Ametewee style, sort of, but on a distressed and inked paper background, which is more me. I think?

I used recycled bread packaging clips as little heart arrows

And a bit of string on the tag. Fun!

365 Project - january and february

2010-03-01T10:00:00.013+10:30

I started this project in the third week of january so the first two weeks have been done retrospectively and involved a bit of trial and error. Since starting, I've taken only landscape framed shots which is a really fun creative challenge. I find they're much easier for scrapping and give you more options for cropping or using the 'white' space in the photo for journalling. I love that the photos and journalling are enough for these layouts, with a little patterned paper here and there to fill the gaps. I'm really loving documenting and recording our everyday lives. I have really struggled with short term memory since having the babies and I feel this is really helping me to remember. It's so doable, too, not a huge commitment, and there's the instant gratifification of pages completed. This project is really meeting my creative and story-telling needs at the moment. I print my comments from my Scrap Happy Valley blog each day and trim them to fit the spaces at the bottom of the album. Love it. Definitely plan to do it again next year.

The new flash

2010-02-23T09:20:00.003+10:30

New flash

the camera's built in flash

I finally, after a month, scavenged around the house for four AA batteries - all mismatched of course - and decided to try out the new flash that cost as much, if not more, than my lovely new camera. Now many people say Oh you won't need that! But the difference is astonishing. No nasty intrusive shadow and light like natural daylight!

Scrapbook page layout - all about me

2010-02-15T08:21:00.005+10:30

So, this is the first page I have completed for the current album of "me" which until yesterday was a vague, theoretical idea. On Saturday I had the great privilege of attending a professional development course for Year 12 English Teachers and it was GREAT. I love that the next day, I picked up the flyer and just scrapped it. I WANT TO DO THIS MORE!

Journalling reads: It was wonderful to get back to a SAETA function.It's been surprising to find I still have the passion. Alison Robertson gave a great overview of Year 12 (new SACE 2011) and I had the bonus of catching up with English buddies - Genevieve, Moira and Emma. A great morning.

I photocopied the flyer and glued it over some plain cardstock. Then I used bubble wrap and yellow acrylic paint for the background, Fancy Pants and butterfly stamp and Tim Holtz distress ink, and handwrote the journalling strips with white Signo gel pen. Easy pages are more FUN.

2010-02-14T09:20:00.005+10:30

I'm having to rewrite my blog post - computer said "no" and crashed! I'm uploading some pics of my latest scrapbook pages from 2009, and a bit excited about a possible way forward for scrapping many photos. There are stories I want to tell while they're still fresh, so my approach is this: to start with one special photo for a single page layout (not my usual style, but oh so luxurious!). The layout below is inspired by a Kathie Link layout, mixed in with my fave technique: stamping!

Then... collaging a mass of photos on the other page, leaving no white space, and including journalling strips straight on to the photos.

I'm off now for a sunday excursion to the Paper Fair at the Wayville showgrounds (Adelaide) to see if my fave shop, Seriously Scrapbooking, might have some Glimmer Mists to try. Would love to start with a purple. What else of course?

New scrapbook pages to show

2010-02-11T13:01:00.008+10:30

At last! I've finally been freed up to do some more scrapbook pages. I made the word stickers myself. Too easy: coloured paper scraps, word stamps, black Staz-on ink, Xyron sticker maker (Tasmin calls this the "missing X", from Sesame Street). LOVING bold colours, thanks to Cheryl Ametewee. Right now I'm interested in documented our stories from last year. I have only photos and memories, no notes to work with. It was a hard year, with Dad's passing, Ian's work troubles, step-children issues and so on. But we're here now, we got through the hard stuff, and we're all much happier and stronger for it. I can't believe I'm working and being a full-time stay-at-home Mum AND enjoying both. Six months ago I wouldn't have believed it.

Here's a teeny tiny confession: because it's now been two and a half years since Tas was born, I think I'm actually putting off scrapping hers and Angus's albums. I'm scared they won't be good enough. Silly I know. Hmmm...

365 project album started

2010-02-11T09:01:00.004+10:30

I'm going to ink up the journal cards a bit more but otherwise the format will be the same every week. I'm modelling this on Becky Higgins' 365 Project Life album, but using page inserts to stick the photos down, in the traditional way!

Photo a day check in

2010-02-10T08:56:00.002+10:30

Day 40 terrible twos

I've been faithfully taking a photo a day which you can check out on my Flickr site. I have almost finished my first month of the album - it's so quick and easy which I love. I feel much freer to scrapbook whatever takes my fancy now without worrying about missing the everyday stories. I'll post some pics soon.

Busy busy busy

2010-02-04T19:04:00.002+10:30

On Saturday I went and got all the photos developed for my latest exciting thing: Project365. I even have an album ready to start making the pages. It's thursday and all I've found time to do is lay and stick half the photos and journalling tags down. Our week has been incredibly busy - especially with starting my new job on Wednesday and Ian's birthday today - and I really need an early night tonight. Last night we got up 6 times I think - 5 times for Tasmin and once for Angus. T claims to be scared of monsters all the time now but calms very quickly as soon as we go into her room. Too quickly. As Ian says, it might be time for some "tough love".

I start to become a cranky Mummy when there's no time for scrapbooking! It would be best for everyone if I could get back to my album...